Forest Products Industry

Forest Products EXPO 2025 Recap

When we set the agenda for the 38th Forest Products Machinery & Equipment EXPO — Fine Tune Your Strategy — we aimed high. From August 6–8, 2025, the industry returned to Nashville’s Music City Center, and the results exceeded expectations. The hall was buzzing as exhibitors and attendees collaborated, learned, and pushed their operations forward.

Bringing EXPO back to Nashville proved the right call. Connecting with so many industry leaders was energizing, and I’m proud of our exhibitors whose creativity turned the hall into a true hub of innovation and opportunity.

This year’s EXPO was our largest since 2000: 243 companies filled 61,440 square feet with solutions across 185 product categories. We welcomed 60 first-time exhibitors and nearly 1,000 attendees. Check out the official recap by clicking here.

While attendance was tempered by economic conditions compared to 2023’s near-record-breaking show, the quality of decision-makers was unmatched — more than one-third were presidents or owners, representing nearly 100 sawmills across North America.

Safety and Women’s Leadership Summits

A highlight for me was presenting the 2024 John Edgar Rhodes Sawmill Safety Excellence Awards, where seven mills achieved zero incidents for the fourth straight year — a true testament to their safety-first cultures. We also launched our first SFPA Safety Summit, where award-winning mills openly shared strategies that gave attendees practical tools to strengthen their own safety programs.

Equally exciting was the inaugural SFPA Women’s Leadership Summit. The panelists’ insights on mentorship, education, leadership, and communications inspired and empowered attendees, showing real change is underway.

Recordings of both summits will be posted soon on SFPA’s YouTube channel, and I encourage everyone to revisit and share them.

Looking Ahead to EXPO 2027

Forest Products EXPO remains the industry’s longest-running and most trusted event. Even in challenging times, we’re already planning to expand services and opportunities for 2027. Our EXPO Advisory Committee will meet early next year to review feedback and shape the path forward.

If you attended and have not completed the official attendee survey, I hope you’ll take a few minutes and give us your feedback. Click here to get started. Your input is critical. It shapes the future of EXPO for both attendees and exhibitors. If we don’t hear from you, we can’t make improvements.

EXPO 2025 was a powerful reminder that this event is about more than machinery — it’s about people, safety, leadership, and the future of our industry.

I’m deeply grateful to our exhibitors, attendees, partners, and everyone who made EXPO 2025 a success. Together, we’re building an industry that’s stronger, safer, and better connected than ever.

Southern Pine Domestic Promotion Efforts

As Southern Pine lumber use expands beyond the Southeast and into new markets — particularly west of the Mississippi — SFPA is strengthening its domestic promotional efforts.

I’m excited to share that our team, working closely with member manufacturers and our Board of Directors, is developing a new publication highlighting the benefits of Southern Pine lumber.

Designed for new users, customers,  and professionals less familiar with SYP products, it will cover everything from strength and design values to common applications, treatability, and versatility.

I look forward to sharing this new resource soon!

International Promotion Efforts

While we’ve been hard at work on Forest Products EXPO 2025, the SFPA team and our global network of consultants have still been promoting Southern Pine lumber around the world as part of our international program.

We’ve attended eight major trade shows on five continents so far in 2025, with five still to go in the remaining months of the year. We continue our digital efforts to promote the benefits of Southern Pine lumber in the Caribbean, Egyptian, and Philippine markets on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

And we’re excited to host several importers from the Caribbean for a five-day reverse trade mission throughout the Southeast in October to showcase U.S. Southern Pine lumber manufacturing.

I also want to point out a special trade servicing and exploratory trip we took to Colombia, where we saw three major developments that were all made mostly of Southern Pine lumber. I’ll let the story and photos speak for themselves, but it was pretty amazing to see so much Southern Pine used in South America.

Ready to Join SFPA?

At SFPA, we believe strong partnerships are the key to lasting growth and success. And it all begins with our most important partners — our members. Their commitment powers everything we do.

SFPA members are innovators and leaders who know the value of community. The connections built through SFPA fuel progress across the Southern Pine lumber industry — from the forest to the finished product.

There’s never been a better time to join. If you know an organization that could benefit from membership — or if your own has been waiting for the right moment — now’s the time.

Want to learn more about the value of an SFPA membership or start your application? Get started by clicking here.

To read previous SFPA related posts click here.

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The post From Eric Gee the SFPA Executive Director: August 2025 appeared first on International Forest Industries.